relaunch

Etymology

It is formed from English re- + launch.^[2][3][4][5] The noun, recorded from 1968, is a conversion of the verb, modelled on the noun launch.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To launch something again: 1691, in J. Gadbury's Nauticum Astrologicum.^[2] Etymonline dates the verb to 1745,^[4] and the Shorter Oxford to the mid-18th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The OED's verb covers launching again "in various senses" of launch, and is used both transitively and intransitively.^[2] The noun, a second or later launch, belongs above all to business, of a firm or a product,^[2][3] and Etymonline notes that it is used especially of commercial products and brands.^[4] Collins also has the general sense of starting something again or making it available again.^[6]

Timeline

• 1691 – to launch something again.^[2] Etymonline dates the verb to 1745.^[4]
• 1968 – noun, a renewed launch, especially of a business or product.^[2] Etymonline dates the noun to 1970.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To launch something again, such as a ship or a rocket.^[6][2]
2. To start something again or make it available again, often in a new form: The publisher relaunched the magazine under a new name.^[6][2]

Noun

1. A second or renewed launch, especially of a product or a business.^[6][2][3]
2. Something that has been relaunched.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins